


Feline Company

by ColorfulTrashCan



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, No Romance, Not much to tag really, Platonic Relationships, give hancock something to ground him a lil, hancock gets a cat, nick knows that hancock likes the kitty, pretty much the only reason for teen, why cant i bring cats to my settlements this is an outrage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:59:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26313028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColorfulTrashCan/pseuds/ColorfulTrashCan
Summary: Hancock and Sole make a new friend C:
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Feline Company

The sound of gunfire was welcomingly muffled as Hancock and Sole stepped into the small former pastry shop. Sole could almost remember the smell of baking bread as they scanned the area, looking for anything worthwhile to scavenge. Sole was slightly upset at how used to seeing human skeletons they were, but instead they shuffled away from the human corpse and moved to step further into Mean Pastries. The pair of travelers halted themselves at the sound of slight movement. Hancock moved his hand to his belt where his pipe pistol was holstered and Sole crouched down slowly, peering around carefully. 

“Meow”

A sigh of relief rushed out of Sole’s lungs, but Hancock kept his hand at his belt. A smoky breath seeped through Hancocks thin lips as he tugged at his pistol, pulling it from his belt. “Hancock, calm down, it’s just a cat.” Sole spoke now returning to their full height. “Sh!” Hancock quickly shushed the vault dweller, moving slowly towards the center of the shop. If anything, the cat could have alerted a feral ghoul in the area. But as he scanned the small room, his shoulders slumped down in calm. Nothing. 

As Hancock was going to give a snide remark about Sole not keeping their guard up, he stopped his tongue as he saw his companion playing with the cat with the laser point on their rifle. Cocking his now non existent eyebrow at their actions he sheathed his pistol back into his belt. Hancock eyed the feline curiously, he’d never really seen a cat up close like this seeing as they were so few and far between. 

“Are you trying to shoot it?” Hancock drawled, not as uncomfortable with the thought as he should have been. Sole snorted and looked back at the ghoul. “No, they just like lasers. Used to have ones specifically for animals back before the war.” They explained, returning their gaze to the cat. 

Hancock had never really considered himself an animal kind of guy, but he had to admit the way the cat pounced on the laser was pretty cute. He huffed a small laugh as he watched the animal play. Sole smiled as the cat moved closer to them, rubbing affectionately at their leg. “Well I think that sells it. We gotta bring this guy with us.” They laughed. Hancock stared at Sole with curiosity. “You sure? I don’t think it’ll follow us all the way back to Sanctuary.” He reasoned. “That’s why we gotta carry it.” They explained. 

\-----

Somehow, someway, the two of them were able to get back to Sanctuary while Sole was carrying the cat and neither of them had to shoot their guns. Hancock personally thought it was a bit too tedious to do, but he wasn’t really in the mood to argue with Sole. He was sure they would have convinced him anyway, they always seemed to be able to talk him into anything. As the settlement came closer into view the cat in Sole’s arms became more and more restless, clearly itching to have their feet on solid ground again. 

Throughout the whole trip, Hancock had been side eyeing the cat and becoming more and more curious about it. Hancock had seen plenty of dogs in his time, most feral and irradiated to all hell, but some like dogmeat, still with fur and kindness in their eyes. But cats were such an oddity. He’d seen many in pre war paintings and books and stuff, but in the flesh? Not so much. He felt himself tense slightly whenever the thing made a noise, Hancock always on guard for unfamiliar sounds. 

“General! Glad you’re back, do you have a second? I just got word from another settlement who-” 

And that was Hancock’s cue to tune out, Preston was an okay guy, but god was he boring. Taking the time to inspect his fingernail-less hand for the millionth time this week, he gave a small grunt as Sole shoved the cat into his arms. He had no time to argue as Sole gave a quick “Hold him for a second, okay?” and waltzed off with Preston. 

Hancock had never held something so small, warm and fuzzy. The closest thing he had was probably his pistol after a particularly strong hit of jet. He stared down at the cat, who in turn stared up at him with big round eyes. Seconds ticked by as the two just stared at each other, until the cat lifted its paw to touch the pads of its toes to Hancock’s chin. It was much softer than he expected. 

“What’cha got there, Hancock?” 

Hancock stood a bit straighter at the sound of Nick Valentine’s voice. The synth stood a few inches behind Hancock’s back, looking over his shoulder down at the cat in his arms. “Aw, well would you look at that? Didn’t take you for a cat person, Hancock.” Nick smiled moving his non wire hand to press a finger to the cat’s nose. “Uh, I didn’t either. Sole kind of just handed the thing off to me.” Hancock mumbled. Nick circled around the ghoul to face him and have him a small smile. “Well, he’s awful cute, isn’t he?” He commented as the cat nuzzled into his plastic hand. 

“Yeah… I guess he is.”

\----

“Has anyone seen Thomas?” Sole asked as they stepped into one of Sanctuary’s common rooms. The crowd all looked at one another and shrugged at the whereabouts of the settlement's cat. Sole pursed their lip slightly. They hadn’t seen Thomas Jefferson in quite awhile and it was a bit worrying seeing as the cat hardly ever strayed far from the settlement. Thinking of where he could possibly be, Sole sat down at one of the bar stools.

“Have you checked with Hancock lately?”  
Sole nearly jumped out of their skin at Nick’s sudden voice. Nick merely chuckled at their startled expression and sat next to them on his own stool. “Uh, I haven’t, why?” Sole finally asked, sipping down their drink. Nick gave a knowing smirk. “Oh, no reason, just wondering.” He answered, shrugging his shoulders. 

\----

Soft snores came from Hancock as he lay in his cot in his room. His hat on his bedside table and his boots tossed somewhere in the room as he was sprawled out. A raggedy old blanket was draped over his body and atop of it in his lap was a little grey cat, curled into a ball.


End file.
